Same client, different brain...

So, I got a call today from the client that had me do the "Brainguy," in yesterday's post, and asked if I could do a realistic brain also. Of course, she knew I do photorealistic work too. This isn't quite photoreal, but it is my first medical illustration ever.

I did the pencil work on a piece of tan mat board, figuring it would give me a nice base tone to work from. The colors and lettering were added digitally. This was another quick turnaround, and I did it in about 4 hours, start to finish.

Best,

Rich

Brainguy

I did this goofy little illustration for a corporate/pharmaceutical client yesterday. I was directed to make it quick and quirky, so it was a fun little job. It has something to do with how the brain receives auditory signals from the ears.

More art soon!

Best,

Rich

Weird Verification!

For the weekend, I'll leave with this strange little bit... In the previous post, I responded to some nice folks who were kind enough to visit and comment on my little endeavor here. When I signed in to post my response comment, here's the form I found. Keeping in mind my last name, check out the word verification "word":


Random or conspiracy...? Hmmm...

Have a nice weekend!

Best,
Rich

Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule!

The latest comics project I've been working on is the brand new Buzzboy limited series, called "Sidekicks Rule!" Since I showed the cover image for Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule! #1 last week, I figured some might be interested in seeing a preview of the interiors. "Buzzboy:Sidekicks Rule!" is a great way to introduce young readers to the magic of comics, and features all new stories, comic tutorials for kids of all ages & more! John Gallagher wrote and drew it, and I did the finishing inks (and colored some pages). Below is my favorite page:

Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule! #1 by John Gallagher, Rich Faber, & Friends. Meet Buzzboy, the "World's Coolest Super Sidekick!" When the Earth's greatest adult heroes disappear, Buzzboy and his other sidekick buddies must keep the world safe from alien invaders, time-traveling ducks. and evil robot wiener-dogs!? "Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule!" features all-new full-color fun, comic tutorials for kids of all ages, and more! Find out why the critics call Buzzboy "...One of the best independent superhero books!" Plus: A Fun, new Roboy Red adventure-- thermonuclear powered, boy robot fun! (I'll post some Roboy Red stuff soon!)

To see a free online preview of issue #1, click here:

http://www.skydogcomics.com/skr.html

Hey kids! Click on the picture below, for full details about a cool new contest!

For more information about Buzzboy: Sidekicks rule, as well as the "Create your own hero" contest, please visit Sky Dog Comics: http://www.skydogcomics.com

Best,

Rich

Wizard Weekend

If you're near Philadelphia this weekend, I'll be appearing at the Wizard World Philadelphia comic book convention. I'll be set up from Friday through Sunday, with my pal John Gallagher, at the Sky-Dog Press table in Artists Alley. For more info on the show, click here:

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/conventions/philadelphia.cfm

If you're in the area, please feel free to stop by our table. If you do, John and I will be happy to tell you all about Roboy Red, Buzzboy, and all the other cool things we work on. As an added bonus, you can also get this FREE(!) Buzzboy poster, drawn by our friend, Mike Wieringo, inked by me, and colored by Gallagher:

If you think this image looks cool here, you'll be blown away by how nice it is at 11" x 17"!

I hope to see you sometime this weekend!

Best,

Rich

Torre, Torre, Torre!

I did this drawing of Joe Torre last year, as a demo for my Drawing In Ink class at Delaware College of Art & Design, but was recently inspired to do a color version of it in Photoshop. Here's the inked version:

Below are some of the color studies I did. I still haven't figured out which one I like best, but I felt it was a good exercise in color harmony.

I'll probably be posting more stuff like this in the future, as time allows.

Best,

Rich

Webwork

I have a few clients who ask me to do illustrations for their Flash websites. Above is the background I drew for a job I recently did for a Mexican restaurant website. The project required me to take a character that was already designed, and place it in different scenarios. Here are a few examples:

This was the first image I did for the client. It had been a while since I'd drawn a horse, but I was happy with the way this one turned out. This shot was placed into the background (above), and the character was animated using Flash, to appear as if he is moving from the background to the foreground.

The above is for the "About" page. the restaurant is called Agave Grille, so the guy is holding an agave plant.

I was asked to do a bunch of page markers featuring the sombrero head character. This one was for the "Events" page.

This one was for the "Newsletter" page.

This is a coyote that can be seen darting throughout the above background on the website. To see the rest of the illustrations, in color, and in context, click below:

http://www.agavegrille.com/homepage.asp

All the illustrations on that website, with the exception of the sombrero guy sitting with the guitar and the logo, were drawn by me. Although I normally color my own work, the coloring was done by my client, who did an excellent job!

More soon!

Best,

Rich

Taking Care of Business

Ok, so the daily thing didn't stay on course, but, really, I didn't expect it anyway. Work always has to take precedence, and fortunately, I have work. And to that end, here are a few select shots from a recent job I did for a corporate client:

The premise is that a customer comes to a service rep with a problem, and the rep works with her to solve the problem. There were a lot more illustrations, but these are the highlights. Why the phone and envelope? Well, I liked the way they turned out, and they're only being used as icons roughly about half an inch in size, so I thought I'd post 'em at a decent size, just so someone will see the work! =)

I'll probably post again in a week or so. Busy times!

Best,

Rich

Still Drawing Strength

I'm not sure if anyone is actually out there reading this, but I thought I'd try to keep up with the daily posting, at least for now.

Last September, in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, John Gallagher and I produced a benefit sketchbook for the Baltimore Comic-Con, called Drawing Strength. It featured work from nearly all the guests of the show, as well as a few who weren't in attendance. All proceeds from the book go to Habitat For Humanity's "Operation Home Delivery," and I believe we still have a few copies left, if you'd like to contribute to this great cause. I know the rebuliding effort is ongoing, and with this year's hurricane season fast approaching, I'm sure the folks down there could still use lots of help. To find out more about the book, and how you can order a copy, check out this link: http://skydogcomics.com/drawingstrength/

Here's my Roboy Red pinup from Drawing Strength:

Sweet Monkeys!

This is an expression my good friend, Mike Penick (http://www.penickart.com/) uses when he's excited about something. I don't know why, but it always makes me laugh. It's also apropos of the following image, which I sketched with a ballpoint pen, on the back of an ad flyer a few months ago.



Okay, so it's a gorilla, not a monkey, but at least it's still a primate!

Best,
Rich
http://www.thinkinkstudios.com/

Free Comic Book Day 2006

There's a terrific event called Free Comic Book Day, where fans can go into their local comic book shops and procure a free comic from a batch of titles specifically printed for the event. For the past two years, my publishing partner John Gallagher and I have put out a comic book featuring John's Buzzboy, and our character, Roboy Red. This year John and I, along with some other friends/colleagues spent the day at our friend Joe Murray's Captain Blue Hen Comics, a fantastic store located in Newark Delaware. There was an incredible stream of people, mostly families. It was great to see so many kids enjoying their first comic books! All told, over 1000 people came through the doors of the store, a new record for Blue Hen!

Here are some pictures from the event:

This is Joe Murray, the owner of Captain Blue Hen, with his beautiful daughter, Erin. It would seem she is the youngest reader of our Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule comic! Joe and his wife Danielle run one of the best comic book stores I've ever visited. It's family friendly, always well lit, and the staff could not be nicer. If you're anywhere near Newark, Delaware, drop by and say hi to Joe and the gang!

Here's John Gallagher, doing one of the many, many sketches that were created throughout the day. Between John and me, we probably drew around 20-30 sketches of Buzzboy and 'Becca, as well as a few Roboy Red sketches. 'Becca was clearly the most popular request with us! Joe told us that the Buzzboy book was the most requested of the FCBD offerings in the store.

This is my pal, Mike Manley, editor of DRAW! Magazine, and Cartoonist Extraordinaire, pleasing yet another happy young fan. Mike did so many drawings on Saturday. Nobody walked away disappointed. Here's a link to Mike's report on the day:

http://drawman.blogspot.com/2006/05/free-comic-book-day-happy-free-friends.html

This is my close friend, Jamar Nicholas. He's looking a bit shell-shocked here, no doubt from all the hours of drawing he put in. Jamar is one of the most generous and talented artists I know.

He goes all out for this sort of event, as you can see here. I can't even imagine how he packs so much into these FREE sketches he does...

... and my lousy photo doesn't do the gorgeous colors he did justice, but trust me, it's a terrific job!

Above are a few examples of some of the sketches I did. As I said, it was a lot of fun!

I'll leave you with this final shot of Joe looking tired, and John looking, well, I'll let you draw your own conclusions...

Hi and welcome!

My name is Rich Faber, and as you might have guessed from the title of this weblog, I'm an Illustrator. I decided to use this forum to post various drawings, sketches and thoughts I might not necessarily add to my website on a regular basis. I'm not sure how often I'll be updating this, but I'll try to make it interesting when I do post!

As for who I am, I've been working as an Illustrator since 1993, when I began my career as a comic book inker. I've worked on such comics titles as Green Lantern, Steel, Adventures of Superman, Impulse, Titans, Quicksilver, X-Men, Tellos, and many others. Since 2002, I've been working on all-ages comics, collaborating with my friend John Gallagher, both as the finishing inker/sometimes colorist/frequent editor on his own Buzzboy (www.buzzboy.com), as well as on our own Roboy Red (www.roboyred.com), where I'm the co-writer and finishing artist.

Outside of comics, I work full time as a freelance Illustrator. I've worked on storyboards and websites for corporate clients, as well as in animation as one of the Illustrators on the Adult Swim cartoon, Minoriteam. I also teach Illustration at Delaware College of Art and Design in Wilmington, Delaware.

I'm originally from Sayville, New York, which is a semi-small town on the south shore of Long Island. I currently live in the Valley Forge area of Pennsylvania.

Again, I'll try to keep things interesting here, and I hope you'll enjoy whatever I have to share! Thanks for stopping by!

Best,
Rich
www.thinkinkstudios.com